With the recent rise of location-based social networks like Foursquare, Gowalla, and Loopt, it would appear that location technology is something new. But in fact, humans have been inventing clever ways to locate each other for many thousands of years.

Even the basic technology that makes today’s location-based checkins possible — cellular triangulation and the global positioning satellite system — have their roots in decades old research projects, and the math today’s apps use to pinpoint your locale hasn’t change too much since the days of Copernicus.

The infographic below details the history of location-based technology, from the most primitive to the most advanced.